Another damning tale of dodgy dealings, lies and mis-selling from an angry Diamond Timeshare owner.
The couple has been members of Diamond Resorts for a number of years with roughly 2225 points per year. In January 2017 the couple was invited to Florida for a free stay and a meeting. In the meeting, the couple chose to discuss their biggest complaint which (not a shocker here) was maintenance fees. The couple was paying $700 a year for points that they didn’t really use. Unfortunately, this complaint led to an opening for the salesperson who decided this was a great opportunity to upsell to the unsuspecting couple, the couple was advised that if they purchased more points and got them up to 5000 a year, they would become platinum members. They were clear that their maintenance fees would go up if they did this, but they were also advised that they would have access to more options.
The options they were told they would have access to included being able to sell their points back at $.50. They would be able to use their points at any hotel, and they were also told that in January 2018 they would be able to cash out if they were unhappy with their timeshare. This meant that Diamond would buy back the timeshare and although they were clear that this could mean a loss to them, they would be free of the binds of the timeshare.
The sales person went on to offer the couple what seemed to be a great deal of 3000 points (which would get them to the 5000) and they agreed, bamboozled by offers and promises!
Guess what……… it was all a farce. The 3000 points they bought were actually part of a 2nd account and couldn’t be transferred to their account with the 2225 points! The two accounts they now have cannot be used on the same holiday, they have been well and truly scuppered by the salesperson.
They have contacted Diamond on a number of occasions and asked them to merge the two accounts, they had no luck with this request until recently when they were told that if they purchased an additional 2500 points they would be able to merge the accounts. When they protested and said they didn’t want to get more invested they were told that they would be paying maintenance for the rest of their lives! They were also advised that if they didn’t merge the two accounts, one of them would be passed on to their children.
Very sadly it also seems that the salesperson wasn’t 100% honest in telling his customers that there was a buyback programme, it simply isn’t true and the next big fib… it doesn’t take 5000 points to become a platinum customer, it takes 50,000 points!
They attended this meeting hoping to resolve their issues in regard to maintenance fees and actually walked out with two lots of maintenance fees and another loan for the extra 3000 points. The couple is now stuck in a really difficult situation with no way out at the moment. This tale shows how careful you need to be when involved in dealings with timeshare, you can find yourself trapped in a web of deceit and lies the could ultimately cost you and your family and extortionate amount of money!
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk